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<title>So Elementary A Phrase (the Entirely Complementary remix) by BelladonnaInBloom</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26961268">So Elementary A Phrase (the Entirely Complementary remix)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelladonnaInBloom/pseuds/BelladonnaInBloom'>BelladonnaInBloom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Worst Witch (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Academic Pining, F/F, Fluff, Letters, Pre-Relationship, Remix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:40:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,496</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26961268</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelladonnaInBloom/pseuds/BelladonnaInBloom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ada reads an article on educational theory by Hecate Hardbroom, she decides to write to the author expressing an appreciation of her work.  Everything goes awry when Agatha stumbles upon the letter.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ada Cackle &amp; Agatha Cackle, Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hackle Remix Challenge 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>So Elementary A Phrase (the Entirely Complementary remix)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainshaded/gifts">rainshaded</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049532">Entirely Complementary</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainshaded/pseuds/rainshaded">rainshaded</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>All parts of the letter are from <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049532">the original fic</a>.<br/>The title is from a letter from Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf- “You, with all your un-dumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn’t even feel it.”</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>September</p>
<p>Excitement singed Ada’s skin as she flipped to the final page.  There were few things that could make her chest tingle with anticipation as thoroughly as brilliant words written by a deft hand laid out before her to devour.  She found that there was an inexhaustible thrill in new thoughts. Perhaps even more so in thoughts long held, now put into eloquent words by another. This satisfaction was what she felt reading <em>The Significance of Core Magical Literacy in Witching Academia </em>by Hecate Hardbroom.</p>
<p>Ada had read the article quickly, taking in what she could.  When finished, she returned to the beginning, going over it slowly and savouring the most salient points.  Coming to the final paragraph once more, she pushed the journal aside and looked out her window at the yellowing leaves. </p>
<p>She desperately wanted to share her thoughts with someone, but only Pendell was there for company and he had a disappointing lack of interest in educational theory. As if to prove the point, Pendell rolled onto his back, exposing his stomach to the warm sun in which he lay and snuggled into the pillow to resume his nap.  Ada sighed and buried her fingers in the sun-warmed black fur.  </p>
<p>For more years than she wished to acknowledge, she had lacked someone with whom she could truly share her passions.  She often found herself walking around her office, babbling to the empty air like an old coot simply to stop all of her nagging analyses from bulging at the seams of her mind. </p>
<p>Today threatened to be one of those times and Ada fought the desire to start pacing the office as thoughts of the article continued to plague her. She couldn’t shake the desire to skim through it one more time. She continued phrasing and rephrasing her silent praise as she expressed how much she appreciated the work to the fantasized confidant within her mind. </p>
<p>If only she were fortunate enough to know this Miss Hardbroom and could ask her in for a chat, Ada thought.  She smiled wistfully at the appealing idea of having someone so like-minded within calling distance.</p>
<p>Ada glanced at the article once more and saw that the author’s current employer and position were listed beneath her name.  Certainly a letter could be directed to her via the school. In a hasty rush of inspiration, she grabbed paper and pen and began to write, absentmindedly biting the end of her pen as she considered the exact phrases she wanted to use.</p>
<p>
  <em>Dear Miss Hardbroom,</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As a spell science teacher, I read with great interest your recent article on core magical literacies and the wider relevance that skills traditionally associated with potion brewing can have to the curriculum as a whole.</em>
</p>
<p>She was so focused on her writing that she didn’t hear her office door open.  Agatha, who was accustomed to sneaking, walked inches away from Ada’s desk, observing her sister without a sound.  </p>
<p>“Who are you writing to, Ada?” Agatha asked, laughing as Ada jumped in surprise. “My, what a guilty expression. You look as if I caught you doing something very naughty indeed. Does someone have a new girlfriend? Or want one, perhaps?” Agatha teased. </p>
<p>“What?” Ada said, still startled by Agatha’s sudden arrival into her previously one-track consciousness. </p>
<p>“Hecate Hardbroom. Who’s Hecate Hardbroom?” Agatha asked, peering over the desk at the unfinished letter. Instinctively, Ada glanced up to the open journal before her and Agatha followed her glance. “The woman who wrote this article?”</p>
<p>Agatha snatched the journal off the desk and read the title aloud, skimming through the first few lines of the introduction.  “Sounds quite dry, really,” Agatha said.</p>
<p>“It’s not dry at all,” Ada said defensively. “Not that I’d expect you to be interested in such things.” </p>
<p>Agatha only smiled at the jibe. “My, my, so touchy,” she said as she tossed the journal back on the desk. “Goodness Ada, I knew you’d been going through a dry spell but I didn’t know it was so serious as to have you looking for dates in academic journals.”</p>
<p>“I’m doing nothing of the sort. I just admire her work and wish to express that to her,” Ada said.</p>
<p>“Mmm,” Agatha hummed.  Suddenly she threw her head back and clutched her chest dramatically. “Hecate, I find myself distracted by the merest thought of your luscious, heaving… bibliography. I lie awake at night, haunted by the image of your oxford commas,” Agatha cackled cruelly.</p>
<p>“Honestly, Agatha, I’m surprised that you even know what an oxford comma is,” Ada said, unimpressed by her sister’s theatrics.  “Don’t you have something more important to do than torment me? I believe mother wanted to see you, you know.”</p>
<p>“Alright, I’m going, I’m going. I’ll leave you and your fan mail in peace,” Agatha said with a wink. She allowed Ada to shoo her out of the office and lock the door.</p>
<p>Ada looked at the article now haphazardly open on her desk and the letter lying beneath it.  That feeling of exhilaration was long gone and looking at the unfinished letter now, she felt foolish. Perhaps it was silly to be writing to this woman whom she didn’t even know.  Certainly she had more important matters to tend to.  Ada folded the letter and shoved it in her desk drawer, closed the journal and got out the unfinished lesson plans that she had sworn to finish that afternoon. </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>February</p>
<p>Ada opened the door to the office and lit a fire in the hearth, the chill of the winter winds still seeping unforgivingly into her body from her morning walk.  Eyes fresh from the clean expanse of snow, she looked at her office and sighed, dismayed at the clutter.  If she could only get rid of some of this paper piled everywhere, it would make all the difference, she thought as she eyed a stack of jumbled journals and essays piled on her floor.  </p>
<p>She picked one journal off the top of the pile and noticed that it had a turned down page.  She flipped to the fold, curious to rediscover what she had feared losing track of months ago. The title read <em>The Significance of Core Magical Literacy in Witching Academia </em>by Hecate Hardbroom. </p>
<p>Skimming the introduction, she remembered how insightful she had found its conclusions, how eloquent its phrasing. Memories of the article, the letter, and Agatha’s incessant teasing all came back to her.  Ada felt a twinge of residual embarrassment as Agatha’s jibes rang clear in her mind.  </p>
<p>However, stronger than any embarrassment she might be feeling was a sense of shame at her own weakness.  She never should have let Agatha bully her out of writing that letter. Perhaps writing it was a silly thing to do, but what difference did it make?</p>
<p>Recalling that it must still be in her desk drawer, she found the letter and grabbed a pen, not stopping to notice that the ink wouldn’t match the first few lines already on the page. After pausing to collect her thoughts and mulling through a few false starts, she pressed pen to paper and continued the letter.</p>
<p>
  <em>I have always felt that spell science and potions are entirely complementary disciplines. Of course all aspects of magic play their part but these two, to my mind, are at the core of practising magic. A carefully brewed potion and a well crafted spell are but two sides of a coin, two halves of a whole and indeed for many spells they are.</em>
</p>
<p>Looking at the letter, it looked a bit haphazard with the two shades of ink and a certain lack of continuity between the two sections.  She shrugged, and reasoned that it didn’t matter. She wasn’t necessarily intending to send it; writing the letter was just a way to get her thoughts out of her head, little more than a fantasy. </p>
<p>She enjoyed imagining Miss Hardbroom reading the letter, that swell of pride and excitement she’d feel from hearing her work praised, her conclusions agreed with. She allowed herself to imagine speaking to the woman, vague though she appeared in Ada’s mind, taking tea and discussing each other’s work on a warm morning in summer. Not that she entertained those ideas too seriously, mind you.  It was just a pleasant daydream, just an agreeable way to pass the afternoon.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>April</p>
<p>Agatha bustled into the staff room and shook off her jacket.  “Good morning, sister,” she said a little too cheerily. Ada was immediately suspicious. </p>
<p>“You certainly seem to be in a good mood. Were you out for a walk so early?” Ada asked, thinking how uncharacteristic it was for Agatha to be out of doors before noon on a weekend. </p>
<p>“Oh yes, I just had to post a few letters. I hope you don’t mind but I took your letters along with mine,” Agatha said casually. Her eyes however shone with a childish mischief, betraying any attempt at nonchalance.</p>
<p>“What letters?” Ada asked, confused.</p>
<p>“Oh, you know, just the ones on your desk: your order for replacement porcupine quills, your renewal of your subscription to one of those boring journals and…” she paused as if trying to remember. “Oh, yes, your letter to that Hecate Hardbroom.”</p>
<p>“What?”Ada  squeaked, getting up out of her chair and advancing on Agatha. “You didn’t? I hadn’t even finished it, it wasn’t even signed.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Ada, I took care of that for you. I finished off the letter and signed your name, nothing to worry about,” Agatha said. The grin on her sister’s face, however, made Ada worry very much.</p>
<p>“What do you mean you finished it? What did you say, Agatha?” Ada asked, thoughts spinning through all the ridiculous suggestions Agatha had had for the letter when she found it months ago.  If there was any mention of oxford commas, Ada would have to fake her own death and run away to live in a hollowed out tree in the woods somewhere. </p>
<p>“Oh, nothing much. I just told her how excited you were to see her presentation at that conference next week and how anxious you were to speak with her about her work,” Agatha said, still grinning. </p>
<p>Dread flooded Ada’s body, she should never have mentioned the conference to Agatha. There would be no way to know exactly what Agatha had written but Ada could guarantee it was intended to make her look like a fool. One could only hope Agatha hadn’t finished it off with a rude drawing in the postscript. </p>
<p>“I can’t believe you, Agatha. You know I never meant to send that letter,” Ada said, returning to her chair.</p>
<p>“What were you going to do, Ada, just pine over your one-sided pen pal relationship for years to come? Face it, I did you a favor,” Agatha said. </p>
<p>Ada scoffed and rose from her chair yet again. “I’m going out,” she said, grabbing her jacket for a walk around the grounds to clear her head. </p>
<p>She calculated the time until the conference, it seemed unlikely that Miss Hardbroom would get the letter before the event took place. The thought relieved Ada a bit. At least, she wouldn’t have to face up to it in person. Besides, just because they would be at the same conference didn’t mean they would meet. Ada tried her best to push the situation from her mind and walked into the cool air of the morning.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>One Week Later</p>
<p>Although Ada was almost always at ease in these sort of social gatherings, she paused for a moment out of sheer shock when she was introduced to Miss Hecate Hardbroom at the Witching Academy Network conference. Practice makes perfect, so the saying goes, but Ada reflected that to practice a conversation alone in one’s room does nothing to make the real one more comfortable. Quite the opposite really. She felt awkward and hesitant looking at the strange face of the woman she had written to and imagined speaking with alone in her own office.</p>
<p>Ada was surprised to find a woman even younger than herself behind those well-written articles. So young with such dark eyes… such dark eyes and with hair that promised to cascade down her back in perfect waves if only she could be persuaded to let it down. Ada cleared her throat and chastised herself over her latest mental indiscretion involving this woman.</p>
<p>“Well met, Miss Hardbroom. I must say, I found your talk very insightful,” Ada began, allowing herself to relax into her usual charm despite her nerves around this too familiar stranger. </p>
<p>“Well met, Miss Cackle. I’m glad you thought so highly of the presentation. Are you a potions instructor as well?” Hecate asked. </p>
<p>As Ada explained about her own position, she continued to relax immeasurably.  While she had never given Miss Hardbroom a clear face or figure in her mind’s eye, somehow the woman was just as she expected. She had a reserved manner, an erudite gaze and an unmistakable intensity behind every word; Ada liked her immediately.  Ada easily warmed to her, chatting happily about the presentations they’d just watched, recent articles that related and anything else that came into her mind. </p>
<p>“So what are you working on next now that the conference is over? Any new irons in the fire?” Ada asked. </p>
<p>“I’m currently working on the final drafts of my next work about the fundamentals of antidotes. Deducing remedies quickly without reference materials in the case of accidents, school room or otherwise,” Hecate said.</p>
<p>“Oh that sounds fascinating! I can’t wait to get a copy for myself,” Ada said, a warm enthusiastic smile spreading over her face. </p>
<p>“It will be out a few weeks from now. I hope that it meets your high expectations,” Hecate replied crisply.</p>
<p>“I’m certain that you couldn’t disappoint,” Ada said. Hecate did not reply but Ada noticed a tight smile form on her lips, so subtle that it could be missed if you weren’t paying attention. For most people it would be nothing, but Ada knew that even this nearly imperceptible curl of the lips was more than most were deemed worthy of and she felt grateful for the privilege.</p>
<p>It was only as she was walking away from the conversation that Ada once again remembered the already posted letter. Perhaps this pleasant conversation had undone some of the damage that Agatha had inflicted upon her reputation. Although, she reasoned, it hardly mattered. Surely, she would never have the pleasure, or possibly thanks to Agatha, the misfortune to see this woman again. </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>May</p>
<p>Ada saw the usual stack of mail left on her desk. Most of it was surely junk mail that she would end up tossing as soon as she looked at it.  However, beneath it all, a rather large envelope caught her eye and she wondered what it could possibly be. A wide grin spread over her face as she saw the name of the sender: ‘Hecate Hardbroom’.  She tore open the seal without delay.</p>
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